BACK-ALLEY DEATH
The discovery of a body Friday in this alley near El-Mayor Restaurant and Street Help Homeless Centre, both with Wyandotte Street East storefronts, has triggered renewed debate over how to deal with Windsor’s homeless living on the streets.
A death has occurred in a part of the city where complaints have arisen over homeless people and shopping cart camps.
On Friday morning, Windsor police cordoned an alley in the 900 block of Wyandotte Street East, between El-Mayor Restaurant and Street Help Homeless Centre. Neighbourhood residents said they awoke to see emergency responders trying to revive a man who was lying in the alley. “Right by that tree,” said Gerard DeAbreu, a resident of Brant Street whose home is adjacent to the alley. “Same thing, over and over. Last week, they picked up somebody there who OD’d.”
The area has been the subject of scrutiny and debate in recent weeks due to a sudden increase in street people hanging around and living out of shopping carts. Nearby residents and business owners say they’ve been confronted with persons using drugs, exposing themselves, setting up makeshift tents, loitering and lying unconscious in public areas, arguing and fighting with each other at all hours and other negative behaviours.
“It’s a mess. It really is, and it’s getting worse,” DeAbreu said. “I’ve called 311. I’ve had to pick up needles.”
Wissam Abbas, chef at El-Mayor Restaurant, eyed the police tape on Friday morning with frustration. “We called police three times. There are a lot of gatherings in the alley,” Abbas said. “We tried to do something about it. Nobody listened. And now, look. This is what happens — a lot of overdoses.” According to Abbas, the problem is the clients of the Street Help Homeless Centre.
“When we close at night, they put up their tents in our parking lot. They do their drugs. They do everything.” Detectives and forensics officers examined the alley on Friday morning, then cleared the scene around 11 a.m. Christine Wilson-Furlonger, director of Street Help Homeless Centre, said she doesn’t think the deceased was one of her regulars. But she acknowledged there has been a recent wave of homeless people coming to her centre from the downtown core. “There’s no place for them to go. They keep getting shoved from place to place,” Furlonger said. “None of them were here two or three weeks ago. It’s because they all got pushed out of the last place they were living at. And they ended up here. This is their last resort.” Furlonger said she’s tired of arguing with residents and businesses about the issue and she’s considering changing Street Help’s services — or even shutting down. “I can’t live like this. My people can’t live like this,” Furlonger said. “If we close it down, they can all migrate back downtown. I bet that would make El-Mayor Restaurant happy.”
Abbas said he understands homeless people in the city need assistance, but the situation is impacting his business and making his customers afraid.
“After the people leave (Street Help), what do they do? On the streets? You’re talking about sex, drugs, everything. It’s crazy over here.”
Abbas said he thinks the municipality should become more involved and take immediate measures to change the situation. “Find a bigger place. Try to help them out. Not only feeding them, you have to help them with their drug addictions, their mentalhealth issues. Give them a place to sleep at night,” Abbas said. “I hope the city does something about it. It’s a big issue here on Wyandotte (Street East).”
Ward 4 Coun. Chris Holt said he’s well aware of the situation and he was in discussions with the mayor and others about it on Friday. “I’ve been in constant contact with residents,” Holt said. “It’s really unacceptable that the people who live there and own businesses there are being negatively affected like this.”
“But saying that, I don’t want to come off sounding like we don’t have empathy for Street Help’s patrons. Mental illness and homelessness are huge problems in the city.”
Regarding calls for more to be done, such as more overnight shelters, Holt said there are agencies and places in the city who offer exactly that.
It’s his understanding that certain persons choose to go to Street Help because the Wyandotte Street East centre has “certain latitudes” not permitted at places like the Downtown Mission.
“I do know that the service providers we have downtown have stricter rules regarding drug consumption,” Holt said.
Holt added there are limits to what a city government can do regarding such problems. “You talk to any municipality in this country. We’re all dealing with this opioid and mental illness epidemic, and we’re all struggling withit.
“This is something that is not isolated to Windsor.”